Stockton-on-Tees
Stockton and Hartington Road
Legacy House is at the town-centre end of Hartington Road, about five minutes’ walk from the High Street, the new Stockton Waterfront park and the river.
The story of the street
Hartington Road is a street of Victorian and Edwardian terraced houses at the edge of Stockton town centre. For much of the last century it was one of the town’s most respected addresses. On the Picture Stockton Archive, people who grew up nearby remember it in their own words:
“when it was the street to live in”, home to “the influential and important people of the town”
A grandmother born in 1909 who wished, as a girl, that her family could live in such a “classy well to do area”
“A class road in the War”, and later “a very smart road”
The houses were built for professional families, with cellars and service rooms, close enough to walk into town.
A synagogue on the street
Stockton’s synagogue stood on Hartington Road. Its foundation stone was laid on 22 March 1906 and it was consecrated by the Chief Rabbi on 23 October 1906. Services ended in 1970–71 and the congregation closed in 1972, after which the building became a church.
What changed
As the town’s industry declined, many of the big family houses were split into small flats. When we surveyed the street for our planning application, its 49 houses held 269 flats, most of them very small.
Turning the tide
Legacy House goes the other way: a house that was six flats becomes four apartments, each finished to a standard you would choose for yourself, with security designed in from the start. We want it to be the first of many.
Sources: Picture Stockton Archive (readers’ memories) · JCR-UK, Stockton-on-Tees Hebrew Congregation · Lewis Legacy Investments street survey, 2026
Where the modern railway began
Stockton has a habit of starting things. The world’s first public steam railway was planned here, the friction match was invented on the High Street, and the market has been trading since 1310.
The Stockton & Darlington Railway 1825
The idea was first proposed at a dinner in Stockton Town Hall in 1810, the first rail was laid at St John’s Crossing in 1822, and on 27 September 1825 the line opened as the world’s first public railway to use steam locomotives. It linked the collieries near Shildon with Darlington and the River Tees at Stockton, where coal was loaded onto ships.
In 2025 the town celebrated the railway’s 200th anniversary with the S&DR200 festival, including a light-and-sound finale on Stockton Riverside. A walking and cycling trail is being created along the route of the original line, with work continuing until 2027.
The Globe 1935
About eight minutes’ walk from Legacy House is the Globe, a Grade II-listed Art Deco theatre where Buddy Holly, The Beatles and the Rolling Stones once played. After 46 years without a live show, it reopened in 2021 following a restoration of around £28 million.
Run by ATG, the Globe holds around 3,000 people and puts on touring bands, comedy, talks and shows. The Council calls it the biggest live entertainment venue between Newcastle and Leeds.
The friction match 1820s
John Walker, a chemist with a shop at 59 High Street, invented the friction match in the 1820s. His sales book records his first “friction lights” sold in April 1827. He refused to patent the idea, thinking it too trivial.
A market town since 1310
Stockton was granted its market charter in 1310, and the market still runs on the High Street every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The High Street is reputedly the widest in England, and at its centre stands the Town Hall, begun in 1735 and listed Grade II*.
A festival town
The Stockton International Riverside Festival, a free festival of street theatre and outdoor arts, has been held every summer since 1988. In 2026 it was held in the new Waterfront park for the first time.
Sources: Hopetown Darlington, the S&DR · Stockton Council, civic history · Friends of the S&DR · Stockton Council, S&DR200 · Tees Valley Combined Authority, Trail of Discovery · Stockton Council heritage, The Globe · Stockton Council, 2021 · Music Week, 2021 · The Ticketing Business, 2021 · Dictionary of National Biography, John Walker · Historic England, Town Hall · SIRF
A town centre being remade
Stockton’s town centre is in the middle of its biggest change in a generation. Some of it is finished, some is funded, and some is still a plan, and we say which is which.
Stockton Waterfront Now open
A new urban park, opened on 20 June 2026 where the 1970s Castlegate Shopping Centre and the Swallow Hotel used to stand. It joins the High Street to the River Tees for the first time in decades, about five minutes’ walk from Legacy House.
- An amphitheatre of 402 granite steps facing the river, carrying the poem “Hidden Depths” by Simon Armitage
- A 55-metre land bridge over Riverside Road, which now has one lane each way
- The Oval Lawn, Finkle Square for events and markets, and landscaped gardens
- Three play areas, including two timber towers
- More than 17,000 plants of 224 species, and 153 trees
The Council paid for it with £16.5 million from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and £20 million from the Tees Valley Combined Authority.
The Town Hall and the former Debenhams Funded
The Grade II* Town Hall at the heart of the High Street has had roof and structural repairs. In September 2025 the Council set aside £6.5 million to bring it back into use for weddings and civic ceremonies, with the visitor information centre on the ground floor, and to work up options for the former Debenhams building, about 90,000 square feet and empty since 2020, such as a creative and digital hub or a food hall. No completion dates have been published.
Tees Central and town-centre living Long-term plan
The Council’s 25-year blueprint for central Stockton and North Thornaby, now called Tees Central, plans for many more people living in the town centre, including up to 400 homes in the Municipal Buildings and new homes on the former Tees marshalling yards. In July 2025 the Council and the Tees Valley Combined Authority approved early funding to start the work.
Wellington Square Now open
The town’s main shopping centre is owned by the Council and took in the shops from the old Castlegate centre.
Sources: Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, June 2026 · Ryder Architecture · Stockton Council, Castlegate demolition · Stockton Council Cabinet, September 2025 · Stockton Council, Blueprint · Stockton Council Cabinet, July 2025
Across Teesside
Around Stockton, Teesside is home to some of the UK’s largest new energy and industrial projects, with better rail and air links arriving too. We list only what we could check against an official or company source.
Net Zero Teesside Power Under construction
Led by bp and Equinor at Teesworks, Redcar, with contracts worth around £4 billion signed in December 2024. It aims to be the world’s first gas-fired power station with carbon capture, storing its carbon dioxide under the North Sea. Start-up is targeted for 2028.
Teesworks and the Freeport Operating
The former Redcar steelworks is being redeveloped as Teesworks, inside the Teesside Freeport, which is described as the UK’s largest freeport. Its first large factory, SeAH Wind, began making foundations for offshore wind turbines in July 2025.
Upgraded stations Now open
Darlington station reopened in May 2026 after a £140 million rebuild, with two new platforms and a new concourse. Eaglescliffe, the closest station with direct trains to London, had a £14.5 million upgrade, opened in June 2026, with a new footbridge with lifts and a new car park.
Middlesbrough station Under way
Middlesbrough station is being redeveloped in a £125 million project.
Teesside International Airport Now open
Brought back into public ownership in 2019, the airport has KLM flights to Amsterdam, with connections around the world, plus holiday routes. It is about 9 km from Legacy House.
Tees Barrage white-water centre Now open
Beside the Tees Barrage is a purpose-built white-water course run by the charity Tees Active, with rafting, kayaking, paddleboarding and a ropes course. A river scene in Sam Mendes’ film 1917 was shot here.
Care and Health Innovation Zone Long-term plan
A partnership of the Council, Teesside University, NHS trusts and Stockton Riverside College to grow health and care jobs along the river in Stockton.
Headline job figures and “potential investment” totals are left out, because they are forecasts rather than delivered investment.
Sources: Teesworks, Net Zero Teesside Power · Teesworks, final investment decision · ACE, Darlington station · Network Rail, Eaglescliffe · Darlington station · Eaglescliffe station · TVCA, airport · Teesside International Airport · Tees Barrage International White Water · TBIWWC and 1917 · Stockton Council, Care and Health Innovation Zone · Data Centre Review
Be first to see Legacy House
Four apartments at the town-centre end of Hartington Road, finished to a standard rarely seen on the street.
Lewis Legacy Investments Ltd · Registered in England and Wales, company number 15451888.